Convoy 19: A Zombie Novel (19 page)

Suddenly, someone burst through the crowd and ran towards her. A moment of panic passed before she recognized the man she had not seen in almost a year; Henry Damico. Kelly met her husband’s embrace, and her eyes welled with tears as she kissed him passionately.

The two figures stood framed in the lights of the landing pad. The crowd slowly became fixated on the Damicos and their loving embrace. Silence first fell over the ship. Then the quiet sound of applause rose, until the entire deck was roaring with clapping and cheering. Everyone in the fleet had endured loss and said good-bye to someone they would never see again. Reunions were rare, but their meaning was not lost. As bad as things were, there was still hope.

Chapter 31

Five military Hummers secured with ratchet clamps sat on the port side of the U.S.S. Boxer. Their battered armor bore the scars of a year of service. A rear passenger door of one of the Humvees quietly swung open, and Nicole stepped onto the ship. The cool night felt amazing.

“Come on, honey,” Nicole whispered to her son.

Vince had been good.  He’d endured a full day of roasting inside the vehicle and remaining quiet, as he had been instructed.

“Mommy, I don’t feel good.” Vince slid out of the vehicle and onto the deck of the ship.

“Come on, sweetie. I’ll get you something to drink.” Nicole picked her son up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. His skin felt cold and clammy, and she could tell he was feeling lethargic. He needed food, water, and a good night’s sleep. If he was still not feeling well tomorrow, she’d look for a doctor to check him out.

She gently closed the Humvee door and looked around for a civilian group to blend into. A large crowd was moving across the flight deck from the helicopter landing pad, and she began to head in their direction. It would be a simple matter to act as if she belonged – any hiccups could be explained away.

“I’m here, aren’t I? Of course, I was screened! I washed the ink off as soon as I arrived, I didn’t think I needed it anymore.” She crafted her story in her mind as she walked. “My son’s hand? He cut it on some glass… He’s fine. They checked everyone at San Onofre. He was cleared just like everyone else. Do you think we’d be here if a doctor hadn’t cleared us?”

Suddenly her heart stopped in her chest, and a chill of terror ran up her spine. Nicole turned sharply, and began walking in the opposite direction. Dr. Kelly Damico, no more than ten feet away from her, walked hand in hand with a dark-haired man.

Nicole cursed herself for not being smart enough to anticipate the possibility that she might run into Kelly Damico. Kelly would recognize her, realize that she and Vince had not been screened, and would know they should not have access to the fleet.

“Excuse me! Miss? Miss?” A voice called after her.

Nicole’s mind raced. She wanted to take her son, hide, and hope Kelly would forget all about her, but she was caught. There was nothing she could do but pray she and Vince would not be sent back to the mainland. Panic washed over her as she turned around to face Kelly.

A young woman in a navy uniform stood before her, smiling. “Miss, can I help you to housing?”

Nicole stood speechless. The civilian crowd had begun to disappear into the flight tower, and Kelly was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you okay, Miss?” The navy woman asked.

“Housing?” Nicole mustered meekly.

“Follow me, Miss.” The cadet smiled, turned, and walked toward the flight tower.

Nicole trailed behind, Vince in hand, scanning the area for any sign of Kelly.  Nicole was a civilian, and civilians went wherever this navy woman was taking her. She would have to keep alert for Dr. Kelly Damico.

They entered the flight tower and descended several sets of stairs. They continued through a hallway that led to a huge storage bay. Nicole could scarcely believe a ship could have a room so enormous. A long fence adorned with thousands of car air fresheners stretched the entire length of the ship. Behind the fence were countless office cubicles, their tops covered by tarps, their entrances covered with sheets. Several hundred men, women, and children milled about within. The scent of synthetic strawberries and mint failed to subdue the stench of body odor mixed with mildew.

A group of women were hanging laundry from a clothesline strung between cubes. Half a dozen children ran around through aisles playing tag. A man in a blue jumpsuit wheeled a large grey garbage bin toward the exit. Two elderly couples sat at a table playing dominoes, smiling and joking with one another. A group of teenage boys stood together, flirting with a group of teenage girls.

Nicole struggled to put the scene into words. “It’s… normal…” she mumbled.

“What’s that?” her navy escort asked.

Nicole shifted the weight of Vince in her arms. “Is this normal?” She paused to scan the enormous storage bay for any sign of Kelly Damico.

The woman smiled back. “This?” She gestured to a crudely painted sign that hung over the chain linked gate that read ‘Cube City.’ “The
new
normal maybe, but yeah… I guess so. Stand in line here and you’ll be processed.” She gestured towards a series of checkpoints along the gate. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No…” Nicole continued to look around in disbelief. “Thank you.”

“No problem, Ma’am. Welcome to the U.S.S. Boxer.” The woman smiled again, bowed her head slightly, and disappeared back into the crowd.

Nicole took her place at the end of the line and brushed her son’s hair back. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

“I feel icky,” Vince replied weakly.

“You want me to keep holding you?” Nicole asked.

Vince nodded.

“You want some water? Something to eat?” Nicole kissed her son on the forehead.

“No,” Vince buried his face in her shoulder.

“Aww, sweetie, let’s get you to bed.” Nicole rocked her son gently. He had been sick a handful of times in his life, but she imagined dehydration and hunger coupled with the insanity of the previous couple of days, had taken their toll on him. He’d be fine after a little bed rest, a change of clothes and something to eat. Watching the children laugh and play within Cube City made her smile. It had been nearly a year since she saw her son play like a normal little boy. The thought of giving her son a sense of normalcy nearly brought tears to her eyes. He could heal the scars of the past few months and meet some children his age. In a day or two, he’d be making friends and having fun. It would take some time to shake off the nightmares, but maybe they’d start to feel safe, eventually.

Her mind wondered at the possibilities. Life would never be the same as it had been, but she and Vince were among the very few lucky ones.

“Name?” a voice interrupted her musings.

A heavy-set woman with a clipboard looked up at Nicole with tired eyes. There was a mentholated gel on her upper lip, which served to mask the smell of the storage bay. . Nicole had been so lost in thought, that her arrival at the front of the line took her by surprise. “Nicole Shemp,” she answered.

“Do you have any training in any of the following areas? Agriculture, Auto Repair, Construction, Education…” The woman rattled off a long list of skills, of which Nicole had none. Before the zombie apocalypse, she had been an actuary at an investment bank. She could navigate financial risk as well as anyone she had ever known, and she had been compensated nicely for that ability. That skill was obsolete now. Mechanics and nurses, farmers and soldiers – these were the people the fleet needed. There wasn’t any finance, there wasn’t any commerce, and there weren’t any stocks, bonds, or mutual funds. For the first time in her life, she realized that she was unskilled. A decade of experience in finance had left her unprepared for this new world.

The woman reached into a box by her feet and pulled out a circular white button. It looked like something someone might wear to express a clever saying or their allegiance to a political party. She frowned as she filled out a name tag, snapped it into the pin, and handed it to Nicole. Nicole looked around at the other inhabitants of cube city. Some had green, red or blue pins. A few wore yellow or orange pins, but the vast majority of the pins were white.

“This is your ID. You need to keep this on you at all times. What’s this boy’s name? Is he your son?”

“Vince Shemp. Yes, he’s my son… what do the colored pins mean?”

“Let’s get through processing and you can ask anyone inside anything you want to know. How old is your son? Does your son have any special needs? Allergies?” The woman spouted off another litany of questions, picked up another white pin, and handed it to Nicole.

“Is your son sick?” The woman finally asked, noting Vince’s complete lethargy.

“Sick? No, no… he’s just tired,” Nicole responded. “Last night the DDC we were in was overrun and…”

“You’re in section WCU12, cube 26,” the woman interrupted. She had clearly heard her share of harrowing stories from San Diego and had no interest in hearing another one. “Breakfast rations will be distributed tomorrow at six am. Next?” She dismissed Nicole and immediately began processing the man next in line.

Nicole thought for a minute about probing for more information about her new home. She decided instead, it was best just to put Vince down for the night. She could learn more about Cube City tomorrow. She turned and began to look for her section, when she was frozen by the sound of a familiar voice.

“How long does he have to stay out there?” Sergeant Miguel Ramos asked.

Nicole attempted to pinpoint Miguel.

“I heard forty eight hours. If he doesn’t turn…” Specialist Pamela Grace’s voice responded.

Directly behind her in the line to her left, stood three members of the convoy team that had rescued her from the DDC. The soldiers were disheveled and appeared worn out; Miguel leaned on crutches, his leg in a cast. At the front of the group stood Sergeant Carl Harvey, surveying the scene silently. His gaze passed over her as if she was just another vaguely familiar civilian.

Nicole darted away from them. She knew the convoy team may not even recognize her, but there was no reason to press her luck any further.

“Mommy… I… I…” Vince shuddered in her arms.

“Shhhh, sweetie… shhhh… I’ll have you to bed soon. You want down?” Nicole rocked her son gently as she walked.

Vince shook his head ‘no’ as he clung to her tightly.

Nicole walked past one sign after another until she found WCU12: Women and Children Under 12. Inside were several dozen women of varying ages and a small handful of young children. The female guard who stood at the gate looked at her pin, nodded, and gestured for her to enter.

She stepped inside and began walking down the isle of cubes looking for number 26. An elderly woman in a torn and sweat-stained t-shirt sat in a camping chair. She was sucking on a cigarette and watching Nicole intently. Another woman wore a faded blue robe and sat on a bucket, sewing a shirt. A third woman in jeans and a sports bra was doing pushups just outside her cube – a baby cooed on a blanket in front of her. No one greeted Nicole.

“Another blank,” the old woman spat in a raspy voice before taking a deep drag of her cigarette.

Nicole ignored the comment. It sounded negative, but whatever it meant could be found out later. With numerous eyes on her, Nicole moved quickly toward her cube number. She was uncomfortable and had a sense that she was not welcome here. Once she found her living space, she ducked inside and closed the sheet behind her.

The cube was small, and two sad-looking cots sat empty against the walls. The ship’s lights shone dimly through the tarp overhead, and Nicole suddenly realized she hadn’t a thing to her name. Her possessions had been left behind at the DDC. She had no blankets, no pillows, not even a change of clothes. Vince had no toys, no books, and no clean underwear. They were destitute, and their survival depended entirely on the charity of the military.

Vince was now limp in her arms. She kissed the side of his head and curled up with him on the cot. She would keep him warm with her body heat, and first thing tomorrow, she would go hunting for blankets and maybe a doctor. Cube City was their new home, and she would have to begin the task of making it a comfortable place for her son. She would have to find a way to contribute, but for now, she would rest.

Vince groaned and wiggled restlessly as she held him.

“Shhhh, honey, go to sleep,” Nicole soothed her son. She smiled to herself. She had made it for herself, for her son, and they were safe now. They could start a new life free from the living dead. The insanity of the previous few months was finally over. She could sleep in peace, knowing she and Vince were safe.

Her son in her arms, Nicole drifted into the deep sleep of total exhaustion.

She awoke to the sensation of Vince nuzzling her shoulder and a sharp pain in her neck. Confused, Nicole pulled away and called out for Vince. A gurgling sound left her lips. Terror gripped her as she reached up to her neck and felt the warm wetness of blood.

Nicole pushed herself up from the cot, but she fell back down. She realized she couldn’t breathe. Her head was spinning, and her strength was vanishing.

“Vince?” she tried to call out again, but a bloody sputter was all that passed her lips. She rolled helplessly over onto her back. Her eyes darted about in terror until they focused on a dark shape looming over her.

Silhouetted in the dim lights of Cube City, Vince looked down at his mother wickedly. He gulped down a wet red rag of flesh. His empty eyes locked intently on her, and his teeth shone through a wicked bloodstained smile.

Nicole screamed a quiet burbling scream that went unheard above the din of Cube City.